I write to you today to discuss an issue that many speak blindly about. Of course, there are many issues that this happens with, but the one I am talking about is the issue of gun control. Anytime something bad happens due to violence people always want to ban guns or they ask for harsher enforcement towards them. People make assumptions that creating more laws that pretty much make it impossible for the average person to get a gun will be the answer to reducing violence; however, no one stops to really think about it. If guns do become outlawed or have hardcore restrictions, what makes people think that criminals won’t still be able to get their hands on it?

People assume that outlawing something erases it from existence, but they don’t realize that guns would still be around even if they’re illegal and people will find loopholes and other means of getting them; I mean drugs are illegal, but people (especially criminals) are still able to manufacture, sell, and buy them so why won’t they be able to do the same with guns? These are the questions nobody, especially politicians ever thinks about.

In the article More gun laws won’t work; gun opponents’ true aim is confiscation it talks about how “Americans own over 300 million guns. Gun confiscation means taking away a huge number of guns from a huge number of gun owners. We tried something like that with Prohibition, and it didn’t work out so well. And then, of course, there’s that inconvenient Second Amendment that would need to be repealed.”

Taya Kyle the wife of the famous NAVY SEAL sniper Chris Kyle quoted in a CNN interview ‘American Sniper’ widow: Gun control won’t protect us saying “If you put an assault rifle in my hands or yours, I am not going to murder anyone, and I am guessing you won’t either. But what makes gun control advocates think that someone who decides to kill will not use any means necessary to do so?” Being the widow of Chris Kyle the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history who was shot to death by an ex-soldier,she talked about her husband’s murderer and was quoted saying “ Simply having a weapon did not make him a murderer. His life choices did.” Taya Kyle is right and proves my point because guns don’t kill people, they don’t have minds of their own; people kill people because they make the life choices that lead them to do so.

People always argue that the Second Amendment should be repealed because at the time it was drafted it was during a revolution against the British Army, so it is reasonable for why it was written the way it was. While laws should adjust with the time, I still think that people should have the right to own guns because they’re tools just like a hammer or a hatchet, guns are just tools and just like how hammers don’t strike themselves against nails or hatchets against wood, guns are the same way in that they will only work if someone makes them and anytime they’re used for harm is more about the person’s life choice rather than their ability to buy the gun to do so. Those that intend harm will use any means necessary so there is no point in taking away a given right that many people love.

I’m afraid I have to agree with Katie. Although there will be violence in America no matter what, a more efficient means of selling guns would make our country safer. Suspected terrorists and ex-convicts should not be able to purchase weapons that are meant to kill other living beings. Also, semi-automatic weapons are not used for hunting animals–they’re used for hunting humans. Therefore, they should not be sold in America at all. Tragedies like Sandy Hook are caused by people owning these guns, and they can retrieve them fairly easily. This is why gun control is a good idea.

I have always agreed to the comparison of drugs being illegal but people still find a way to them and if guns were illegal it would be the same. If someone needed a gun to hurt someone they wouldn’t let the law stop them, they would find a loophole. Whether it was restricting guns or completely banning them, not much would be done for violence. People who were addicted to crime or who wanted to hurt others would find other weapons to take lives and then the circle would repeat itself.

Ramazan,
As a supporter of gun control, I think you have a misconception between controlling and banning guns since you are using both ideas and terms interchangeably. I am a full supporter of the second amendment, but it is only common sense we shouldn’t be handing harmful people harmful weapons. There needs to be some logical control.

According to the Huffington Post, “We resist new gun laws because we collectively believe existing gun laws already lean hard on the 2nd Amendment and we are wary of trampling our constitutional rights. Only, most of those laws don’t exist.” These are the so called “laws” that actually do no exist:
* background checks are currently required to buy a gun at a gun show or in a private transaction. (this is only true in a handful of states)
*a gun cannot be sold to someone on a terrorist watch list or a no fly list (they can)
* law enforcement is notified when large numbers of guns are purchased in a short time (law enforcement, whether it is municipal, county, state or federal are in fact not notified)
* you cannot buy guns or ammunition over the internet (you can)

These so called “laws” are only common sense, and should be enforced in every state but sadly they are not.

Search

Recently Active Members

See what we are reading.

About us

This is a youth-powered social network that was started in 2003 by a group of teachers from local sites of the National Writing Project.

We merged several earlier blogging projects. We have found that there are many advantages to bringing students together in one site that lives beyond any particular class. It's easier for individual students to read and write about their own passions, to connect with other students, comment on each other's work, and create multimedia posts for each other. Further, it's been exciting for us to pool our knowledge about curriculum, connected learning, and digital literacies.

If being part of such a community makes sense to you, we invite you to join us. We welcome all youth and any teacher interested in having students publish online and participate in the give and take of a social network like Youth Voices.